Olefin metathesis provides an efficient method for the construction of carbon-carbon double bonds and has emerged as a powerful tool in preparation of cyclic organic molecules and polymeric materials. Some common olefin metathesis reactions include ring closure metathesis (RCM), acyclic diene metathesis polymerization (ADMET), ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), ring opening metathesis (ROM), and cross metathesis (CM).
In recent years, olefin metathesis has been increasingly used by the pharmaceutical industry to synthesize biologically active molecules (Wallace et al., “A Double Ring Closing Metathesis Reaction in the Rapid, Enantioselective Synthesis of NK-1 Receptor Antagonists,” Org. Lett. 2001, 3, 671-674; Kanada et al., “Total Synthesis of the Potent Antitumor macrolides Pladienolide B and D,” Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 4350-4355). The increasing use of olefin metathesis in pharmaceutical industry has increased the demand for more efficient olefin metathesis catalysts.